Corey Anderson: “I F**ked up” passing on Rockhold, Gustafsson fights
After turning down fights with Luke Rockhold and Alexander Gustafsson top ranked Corey Anderson now has regrets.
The landscape in the UFC’s light heavyweight division is changing, and as established veterans fall new contenders emerge. One fighter in the division that’s been a relative standstill is Corey Anderson, who despite three straight wins and a #8 ranking has been left out of most discussion regarding the division.
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A large part in that is due to him electing to take time off from MMA in order to spend more time with his family and newborn son. In order to do this he turned down fights with both three-time title challenger Alexander Gustafsson and former middleweight champion turned light heavyweight Luke Rockhold. Both those fighters lost their last fights to Anthony Smith and Luke Blachowicz respectively, changing up the division rankings.
Now Anderson has taken to Twitter and admits that he may have made a mistake.
With all my tweeting and responses… I am man enough to also say that I fucked up by passing up the Rockhold fight and hesitating on the Gus fight. I used poor judgement. But I still want my chance to earn the gold. I'm still here to fight the best in the @ufc #UFC239
— Corey Anderson UFC (@CoreyA_MMA) July 9, 2019
Gustafsson is now retired and Rockhold faces a lengthy suspension following hos brutal knockout loss to Blachowicz.
Anderson has not been active since December last year when he defeated Ilir Latifi at UFC 232. After the fight he expressed ire towards fans and media writing him off as a top contender due to him not finishing the majority of his UFC wins. He’s coming off of three straight wins also including former title challenger Glover Teixeira – a fight Anderson took on short notice.
Who should Corey Anderson fight next?